Derek Yach is president of the Foundation for a Smoke-Free World. During the 2018 Global Tobacco & Nicotine Forum, he will reflect on how disruptive technologies are set to transform the tobacco and nicotine product industries, and he will outline ways in which changes could benefit global health.

Yach has held numerous prestigious positions relating to public health in both the private and public sectors.

At the World Health Organization (WHO), he served as cabinet director under director-general Gro Harlem Brundtland, where he led the development of the WHO’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control and the global strategy on diet and physical activity.

Previously, he led global health and agriculture policy at PepsiCo and was chief health officer at Discovery’s Vitality Group.